Beer sold in grocery stores will not face strict limits, Sousa says

Finance Minister Charles Sousa says the government will not impose "stringent restrictions" on the amount of beer that Ontario grocery stores will be able to sell.

Sousa was responding to a report in the Toronto Star said yearly sales quotas will limit supermarkets to selling on average fewer than 300 six-packs per day.

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"Let me assure the public we are going to make ample availability of beer in grocery stores so that people can have their greater convenience and, as well, access to beer while being socially responsible," Sousa told reporters on Friday. 

"There wont be any limitation that's going to hamper the distribution of beer as we proceed forward." 

Ontario's Liberal government said earlier this year it will try to raise money for transit and infrastructure by selling off a large chunk of Hydro One and opening up the way beer is sold in the province.

The government will also bring in a new beer tax. 

The government filed paperwork in advance of the Hydro One sale on Friday. 

Selling six-packs

Sousa said the final plans for modernizing beer sales in the province should be ready within weeks and will increase the amount of availability.

The government intends to allow sales of six-packs of beer in up to 450 grocery stores across Ontario by 2018.

The premier's advisory panel on government assets recommended licences restrict beer sales at each grocery store to about $1 million a year, and chains would be able to average the volume sold across all its licensed outlets.

Sousa said it would be up to the grocers who win the licences to decide where to sell the beer, saying the government won't restrict them in terms of store locations.

He said there will be sufficient and ample amount of availability for consumers when the expanded sales in grocery stores becomes a reality, and stores won't have to worry about hitting a quota wall.